Hot-system rolling-mill.



PATENTED PEB. 2a, 1905.

W. KENT.

HOT SYSTEM ROLLING MILL.

APPLIGATION FILED 1330.22, 1902.

nand the section -line of Fig. 1.

Patented February. 28, i905.

ll einer...

WILLIAM KENI, OF YUUNGSTUWN, OI-HU, SSIGNOR (.)F ONE-HALF T() NOAH KENT,UF S'lltU'll-llilltS, 01H0.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters Patent No. 784,004, datedFebruary 28, 1905.

Application filed December 22, 1902. Serial No. 186,]46.

To a/f when@ it may (fo/tecra:

Be it known that l", WILLIAM KENT, a citi- Zen of the United States,residing at Youngstown, in the State of Ohio, have invented a certainnew and useful Hot-System RollinglVlill, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to the iron-working art, and particularly to theart of rolling thin sheets of iron, though it is as applicable to therolling of any other metal.

` The objects of the invention are to provide means for keeping thesheets hot during the rollingI process in order that they may be rolledmany times and rolled very thin and in single sheets when desired and toprovide means by which sheets maybe rolled continuously and m raus forrolling two sheets at the salne time without doubling. These objects, aswell as other advantages which willV hereinafter appear, ll attain bythe construetion and arrangement which 1l. illustrate in preferred formin the aceoirii )aiiyiiig drawings, forming part hereof, and in whichFigure l isa side elevation and partial seetion of the rolls and theportable furnaces l use, the section beingl taken on the line :ff :leindicated in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan of the apparatus,showing the position of the furnaces relative to the rolls l? ig. Z3 isa vertical section through a form of furnace which l prefer to use,showing the position of the sheets being heated therein.

ln the present method of rolling thin iron sheets it necessary to doubleor place together lirst two, then four, then eight sheets and run themthrough the mill, because otherwise as the sheets get thin they losetheir heat so rapidly that they are not workable. lt is vfrequentlynecessary to reheat the whole lot, and in this practice, of course, allthe heat still in the metal at its last turn through the rolls is lostaltogether. Se far as vl am aware it has not been possible to roll verythin sheets without this doubling process, and the result is that thesurfaces of the sheets are not smooth unless a subsequent process ofcold-rolling is gone through with for this specific purpose. l haveovercome all these difiiculties and others by the provision of twoportable furnaces introduced closeup at each side of a set of three-highrolls, so that as a sheet comesV through the rolls it is at once runinto a furnace and kept het and may be run bach through the upper rollswhen desired. The construction of the three-high rolls and theirmounting is as ordinary. The side frames a are joined by the tie-rods v1and the base and the rolls c (l l are journaled in the brass blocks in avertical slot and pressed together at the required height by the block/z and the screwfI and wheel y, as is usual.

l provide two portable furnaces Zr, which are mountedon casters orwheels fm and are designcd Ato have a projecting nose to approach closeto the rolls. There is a lire-box lny and a stack l. The interior hastwo spaces or heating-ehambers n and q, separated by bars Ir fr oncross-bars 0, so that the flames may surround the sheets, if desired,and the front end of the furnace has two slits for the egress of the hetsheets, as shown. The top platform of the chamber may have itssupportirig-bins separated at one point, so that the sheets may be slidfrom the upper to the lower chamber, if desired. Also a second slit maybe provided iust under the front ends of the bars, so that sheets maybeintroduced from the front into either chamber. The apparatus is adaptedto use `either thin sheets to begin with or the heavy bars l'or theiii-st sheetrolling. ln the prefi'nrlnl forni of the furnace, Fig. 3, itmay be built entirely of lirebrick surrounded by a metal casing held b vtie-rods a. o o are the cross-bars which support the iJlatform-bars fri", which latter may be either round rods or pipe or solid rectangularbars, as shown. At the sides of the platforms l provide the sloping'ribs t in order to right up the sheets as they come in the front slitsin e; se they come from the rollsl out of alincment, as often happensfrom lach of homogeneity in the material.

The sheets having been heated in the ordinary furnace, the portablefurnaces are loaded by introducing the sheets through the slit shown atthe back and a pile made in each chamber, entering the lower chamberthrough the slit at the middle of the upper platform. The two furnacesthen being brought close up to the rolls, a sheet may be run out underthe middle roll and guided into the lower chamber of the oppositefurnace It may be immediately run back over the middle roll or may beleft in the furnace longer in order to heat again as much as is desiredby the practice. A slot may be provided in the furnace for running theincoming sheet up onto the upper platform when desired, or a slot Linderthe platform will allow admission directly to the lower chamber. Anydesired way of handling the sheets may of course be practiced; but lprefer generally to run one sheet through the upper while at the sametime another is being run through the lower pass between the rolls, andone operator can shift the sheet each time from the upper to the lowerchamber, and vice versa, by nieansof a tool introduced at the rear, forexample. By this operation much thinner sheets can be made, the rollshaving two sheets in at once. Also when sheets are thus run throughsingly the surface is made much smoother.

lt will be seen that by the use of this apparatus the sheet ispractically all the time in one or the other of the furnaces, and agreat saving of heat is thus attained, while the furnaces may be at thesame time as the rolling used to anneal the sheets.

By this method of procedure l avoid the necessity of taking the pile ofsheets back to the stationary furnaces, avoid their ever geting cold,avoid the doubling process, can roll very thin sheets, can roll eachsheet separately, can anneal at pleasure without reheating, can save theemployment of at least three men, double the output, improve the qualityof rolling, and have rendered the loss of heat by carrying about in thecold air practically l/z/. Many other advantages will readily occur tothose skilled in the use of rolling-mills.

The invention resides, broadly, in means for carrying out the method ofprocedure, and I do not wish to be understood as limiting' it to theparticular means shown. It is evident, for instance, that I might employall automatic means for handling the sheets and guidingI them into therolls and the furnaces and may employ any form of furnace, and theinvention is not limited by the use of a three-high rolling-mill, butcan be used with the double roll; but,

Having thus described my invention and its use, what I claim, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

l. The combination of aset of rolls and two portable furnaces, one oneach side thereof` having each two openings, whereby to feed the rollsfrom one, and at the same time take from the rolls into the other, saidfurnaces having means to retain and heat the metal in the intervalsbetween passages through the rolls, substantially as described.

2. The combination with aset of three-high rolls of two portablefurnaces having' openings for receiving and simultaneously deliveringsheets to and from said rolls immediately and provided with means forretaining a pile and heating the sheets as they enter said furnaces. i

3. The combination with a set of rolls, of a portable furnace having twoheating -chambers, one having a slit to receive, and the other a slit todeliver sheets to said rolls, and

a communicating opening between the said chambers.

4. The combination with a three-high rolling-mill of a pair of portablefurnaces having heating means and provided with two slits in their frontends and designed to approach closely and receive and deliver sheetsdirectly to and from the two passes in said rolls alternately.

The combination with a three-high roll ing-mill of a pair of portablefurnaces, each furnace having means for heating and means for rightingup the sheets in position as they come -from said rolls and openings forreceiving sheets from one pass of the rolls and delivering' to the otherpass.

6. In a portable furnace, in combination with a three-high rolling-mill,two separate chambers with means for heating the same and twoentry-slits in the end of the furnace, for the purpose specified.

7. The combination with a rollingmill, of portable furnace for receivingsheets directly from a set of rolls having slanting side guides placedopposite to a receiving platform, whereby the sheets as they enter maybe automatically adjusted in line with the rolls.

ln testimony whereof 1 have hereunder signed my name in the presence ofthe two subscribed witnesses.

WlLLIAM KENT.

Witnesses:

F. W. H. CLAY, CHAs. H. EBERT.

IOO

